“That’s more like it.”
Qi Xu had originally wanted to gather all his monster friends together for a feast, but seeing how busy Iron Doudou was, he decided to give up on the idea.
Instead, he invited only the three monster merchants. With Master Chef’s cuisine as bait, the three came sprinting over at astonishing speed.
“Black Whirlwind, you’re being too polite again.”
“Exactly. How could we possibly accept this?”
“These are gifts from the three of us for you and Chinese Master Chef. We eat and drink at your place every time, so we’ve been feeling rather embarrassed.”
Qi Xu and Master Chef accepted the gifts with flattered expressions. They were extremely common items, but also incredibly practical: vehicle upgrade cards, ten thousand for each of them. The monster merchants were quite generous!
It definitely wasn’t because of the food. It was all for their transcendent friendship across species!
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, A Zi, as expected, understood the situation well.
“Invincible Black Whirlwind, you called us here this time because…? If there’s anything you need our help with, feel free to ask. We may not be very capable, but if there’s anything we can do, we certainly will.”
The implication was that if there was something they couldn’t do, then there was nothing they could do about it.
Fortunately, Qi Xu had no intention of making things difficult for the monsters. He straightforwardly said, “Do you know the Black-Haired Monster Merchant from District 999? Is there any way to get him to come to District 88?”
A Zi immediately replied, “That would be extremely difficult. The positions of us monster merchants are determined from the very beginning. Switching positions is impossible unless…”
“Unless what? Just say it!”
They had even started speaking in riddles, stopping right at the crucial moment.
“Unless District 999 disappears. Dispatch workers and contract employees will be punished along with the human players, but those of us with permanent posts will be scattered and reassigned to other positions.
“We monster merchants have no way to change the district we belong to. Besides, all three monster merchant positions in every district are currently filled, so switching is even less possible.”
The red-haired monster merchant finished the rest of the explanation, but all three monster merchants wore somewhat peculiar expressions.
Qi Xu didn’t answer. Instead, he asked Qiuqiu in his heart, “Can districts be merged too?”
“No. In the future, there won’t be district arena battles anymore. There will only be arena battles between different national servers. When the monster merchant said that District 999 would disappear, he was referring to a life-or-death battle in which the number-one-ranked player wagers the entire district.
“If they lose, the entire district will be completely merged into the victorious country. The victorious team leader will decide the fate of all the players, as well as where they go and how the supplies are distributed.”
Qi Xu had heard yet another piece of information he had never encountered before, and it was rather heavy. His expression grew serious for a moment.
“When will the national-server arena battles begin?”
“Still a long, long way off. I haven’t received any news about them yet.”
Qi Xu nodded. He had understood everything perfectly and decided not to trouble his own Qiuqiu any further. Instead, he directly had The Third go trouble Bad Ball.
It didn’t take long for him to receive the answer he wanted.
Threeking: “At the end of the second year. Bad Ball wants to know why you’re asking.”
Qi Xu felt as though something was about to emerge from the depths of his mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. The sensation left him somewhat irritated.
Seeing Invincible Black Whirlwind’s expression changing repeatedly, the three monster merchants cautiously asked, “Are you trying to buy something from the Black-Haired Monster Merchant in District 999? You can tell us. We can source the goods from him and sell them to you.”
Qi Xu shook his head. “No. I want to invite a player from their district to join me, but that player has a very deep bond with the Black-Haired Monster Merchant and doesn’t want to leave him behind.”
The three monster merchants couldn’t understand. A human player and a monster merchant had a deep bond? Was that even reasonable? Could it be that their district had a Master Chef too?!
Qi Xu’s imagination began running wild, and he continued asking, “Can you get promoted?”
The three of them nodded blankly. “Of course. Once our sales reach a certain level, we can become a Monster Merchant Supervisor.”
“Which of you has the highest sales right now?”
A Zi raised her hand.
Qi Xu understood. There was actually room to work with here. He immediately introduced Blessed by Luck and Laicai to A Zi. From now on, whenever the guild needed to purchase supplies, they would prioritize buying them from A Zi and pile up the sales volume first.
Once they found a way to get A Zi promoted, they could transfer Blacky from District 999 over. That way, Wang Buyu would have nothing left to worry about.
It was extremely troublesome, but Qi Xu felt it was completely worth it.
Wang Buyu alone wasn’t particularly strong, but if she were placed on a team, she would be like a shield for the entire group, with a sword added on top!
A Zi was struck senseless by this glorious opportunity that had fallen from the heavens. She grinned so widely that she could barely close her mouth, her face flushed red with excitement.
Qi Xu had already started messaging Taotao.
“Baby, I’ve run into a bit of trouble over here and need to help a monster merchant boost their sales so they can get promoted. So 〖Slashing Path〗 may not be able to buy as many things from the Monster Shop this month. Don’t worry, though. Once they get promoted, I’ll be back. Muah!”
Taotao: “Don’t worry, I won’t overthink it. What kind of trouble did you run into? Do you need my help?”
Qi Xu hadn’t expected Taotao to be able to help, since they weren’t part of the same system. But that was what best friends were for—they told each other everything. So he explained the whole problem to Taotao.
Taotao: “You could ask that Black-Haired Monster Merchant if he’d be willing to come work as a shop manager here. I happen to have one vacant position available, and it’s a permanent post with the option to transfer. The only drawback is that, as a shop manager, he wouldn’t be as free as a monster merchant. He’d have to work regular hours, and the pay would be lower.”
Qi Xu was dumbfounded. Things could work like that too?
Why had they brought labor dispatch, permanent posts, contract workers, and transfers into a survival game?
Qi Xu immediately contacted Wang Buyu and had her ask the Black-Haired Monster Merchant.
At that moment, the Black-Haired Monster Merchant was trying to persuade Wang Buyu to leave. He didn’t have much ability or authority. At the beginning of the game, he had indeed been able to help Wang Buyu a little.
But she had already come a long way, and she had begun to give him feedback as well. From that point onward, the help he could provide her would be very limited. It would be better for her to switch districts and join Invincible Black Whirlwind.
District 999 had no ambitious players and was rotten through and through. It was also ranked… Whatever number it was, leaving early would be best.
However, he hadn’t expected Invincible Black Whirlwind to have so much influence—not only could he bring Wang Buyu over, he could even find a way to transfer him to District 88 as well…
As everyone knew, monster merchants would rather work as contract employees in a top-one-hundred district than remain permanent employees in one of the bottom one hundred. And this was a popular position that money couldn’t even buy!
The difference between the two was enormous. So without a second thought, he immediately agreed to the transfer.
An opportunity like this couldn’t be missed!
He was more than willing!
